Today Longmoor Lane in Fazakerley echoes to the sound of industry, the new heart of a commercial centre and modern redevelopment plans.

It is one of the latest areas to have been targeted by Urban Splash to bring new life to an old site.

But it isn’t so long since the road was filled with the sound of children’s laughter as boys and girls who were grateful to have found a new home played hopscotch and hurried to the chapel at the top of the road.

It was once the haven for Fazakerley Cottage Homes, where hundreds of Liverpool children grew up safe and secure after being left without a family to call their own.

“I was the most miserable child in the world the day I arrived and I can, on three occasions, remember climbing down the drainpipe from my upstairs dormitory window,” wrote one late resident, who moved there in 1949.

But he continued: “I began to settle down and make friends and, although not ideal, the house mothers and the head of the home, Mr and Mrs Phillips, made my stay a very happy and pleasant one.”

Fazakerley Cottage Homes were built in 1888 and opened in March 1889 after it was decided that workhouses were not the best places for children, partly because other adults who were housed there too were not always the best influence.

They put a roof over the heads of youngsters who had been orphaned or whose parents had been unable to support them or who had abandoned them.

Local historian and ECHO Merseyside Tales columnist Stephen Guy says: “I knew the Cottage Homes very well in the period 1959-1964. We would travel by bus from Evered High School a few miles away.

“The homes were pretty grim. We sometimes saw rather forlorn children looking at us from the gloomy windows. They used to go the big hall or chapel in the centre of the complex, I think possibly for lessons as well.

“We changed for sports in one of the cottages before running out on to the nearby playing fields. The cottages were old-fashioned and quite eerie but the surroundings were pleasant.”

There were 24 cottages on the estate, designed like a small model village, and each could house up to 25 children until its closure in 1959.

The village was completed with a central hall which acted as a chapel and a school, as well as a swimming pool, an infirmary and lodges.

“It’s these beautiful buildings which we are seeking to bring back to life,” says Simon Humphreys, from Urban Splash, of its New Hall development.

“The original architects called them cottages: by our standards they are nice roomy, Victorian houses with space enough for a couple of apartments, a single home, a selection of commerical enterprises or the headquarters of a decent-sized enterprise.

“We want to bring this set of important historic buildings back to life, to create a beautiful, bustling urban village.”

Two cottages have so far been refurbished, says Urban Splash, with the others being marketed for commercial use.

Occupiers already include the NHS, Liverpool City Council, Fazakerley Special Needs and a private nursery.

“We are currently marketing four units for commercial use – for businesses to either buy or rent and ultimately modify to accommodate their needs,” adds Simon. “We are in productive talks with a number of organisations about these and hope to be able to make further announcements in the coming weeks about organisations moving to New Hall.